LC5 




1856. 




FINAL EFFORT 

OF THE 

SOCIETY FOR THE PROMOTION 

OF 

COLLEGIATE AND THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION 
AT THE WEST, 

I3ST BEHALF OF 

Colitis in Skies (fast of % jpssisstpi 



[from the thirteenth annual report.] 



NEW YORK- 
JOHN F. TROW, PRINTER, 377 & 379 BROADWAY, 

OOENEE OF WHITE STEEET. 
1856. 




FINAL EFFORT 



OF THE 



mdi for \\t flromcticm of Colkpte na 
C^ologtml Ckcatioit at \\t Hest, 



IN BEHALF OF 



COLLEGES IN STATES EAST OF THE MISSISSIPP. 



[FROM THE THIRTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT] 



9 

NEW YORK : 
J. F. TROW, PRINTER, 3 77 & 3 79 BROADWAY, 

CORNER OF WHITE STREET. 
M.DCCC.LTL 



f 64- 



[Note. — While the Society is engaged in prosecuting the work 
described in the following pages, it will also be necessary to render a 
certain amount of aid to Institutions West of the Mississippi. There 
are now five such upon its list ; and the Board of Directors, at their last 
meeting, voted to them the following appropriation^ for the ensuing 
year, viz. : — 

Iowa College, $1,500 

College of St. Paul (Minnesota), . 500 

German Evangelical Mo. College, . . 1,000 
Pacific University (Oregon), . . 1,200 

College of California, $2,000, less $273 (al- 
ready received), . . . . 1,1 21 



JUL ' * 1906 

NEW YORK PUBL. LIBS 
IN EXCHANGE. 






PRESENT CONDITION OF THE SIX COLLEGES 
NOW UPON THE LIST OF THE SOCIETY IN 
STATES EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 

1. Marietta College. 

The following statements, made by Pres. Andrews, will 
show the general success of the Institution. 

There has never been any inflation, but the College has kept steadily at 
work, and the results are encouraging. The annual average of graduates 
is larger than at any other College aided by the Society ; 182 in 19 years. 
The average number in the College Classes for these 19 years is 49; so 
that, on the average, the number of graduates at the close of the year is 
one-fifth of the whole number in attendance. This I think is fully equal 
to the ratio in New England. So also for every hundred that have enter- 
ed the Freshman Class, 78 have graduated. 

You are aware that the Scholarship system has been adopted very 
generally in Ohio. At Oxford, for example, Pres. Anderson was author- 
ized to give away 100 free Scholarships. Considering these circumstances, 
and remembering that many rich men send their sons to the East, (there 
are 21 in Yale from Ohio,) I think it is to the credit of Marietta that of the 
students now in attendance, five out of six pay tuition, and those on Schol- 
arships have paid full tuition in advance. 

Our first class graduated in 1 838. In 1839 we appointed our Tutor 
from the Alumni, and have done so ever since. "We have one Professor 
from the Alumni also, and hope hereafter to make all our appointments 
from our graduates. 

It is a constant objection to our Western Colleges that their classes are 
so small. They are too small indeed, but smallness is not limited to the 
West. Marietta College graduated this year as many as Trinity College, 
Conn. ; and more than N. Y. University, Columbian College, D. 0., Hobart 
Free College at Geneva, or Middlebury, Yt. It is well also to recollect that 
in the first 19 years Yale College graduated but 8S. "We ought not, then, 
to be ashamed of our 182. On the whole, the more I compare the actual 
work which Marietta has accomplished with that done by other Institu- 
tions, and the more I put the facts of her history into definite shape, the 
more satisfied I am. What we chiefly want now is the endowment of 
two or three Professorships by some large-hearted Christians. "We are 
beginning to have a past to which we may refer as a guaranty for the 
future. 



In view of our condition (ho Trustees at the Annual Meeting passed 
the following resolution, viz. : — "That the President be instructed to cor- 
respond with the Sooiety, asking permission to increase the amount of en- 
dowment we were to reoeive according to a previous arrangement." 
They also voted that a vigorous effort ought to be made here at the 
"West towards raising funds. Our income from term bills and interest on 
vested funds fell short of our outgoes during the last year by $2,500. 

The amount voted to the College under the arrangement 
alluded to above was $18,000. The Eastern subscriptions to- 
wards this now amount to $L5, 640,20, and there is another of 
$500 payable when the whole is secured. 

2. Illinois College. 

At no period of its history probably was this Institution so 
prosperous as at the present time. The President writes that 
the present Freshman Class numbers some 38. A part of 
these, however, are in the scientific course. In answer to the 
inquiry, " What was the financial condition of the College in 
1843, when it first began to look to the Society for assistance ?" 
he says — 

The College Buildings, with 33 acres of Land, the Library, Apparatus, 
&c, were then estimated at $50,000. Since then the building destroyed 
by fire has been replaced by one much more valuable, and the land has 
risen at least fivefold'in market value. The permanent fund at that time 
was $3,700. All the other property owned by the College was absorbed 
in the payment of its debts. 

The present property of the College is better worth $85,000 than 
$35,000 in 1843. The income at that time, derived from sources which 
were not absorbed in the payment of its debt, swas $2,448. Properly 
speaking, it had no net income, but an annual deficit to meet expenses (in- 
cluding interest on debts) of some $5,000. The income in 1856 was 
$5,527, an increase of $3,079. The present income from tuition bills alone is 
worth more than that derived from all sources in 1843. This may not be 
so rapid a growth as that of some other Colleges, but it is not death. 

The amount paid on the $20,000 which this Institution 
was to receive through the Society is $5,530 78, and there are 
pledges in addition supposed to be good for something more 
than $9,000. The Trustees of the College have also entered 
successfully upon an effort to secure $50,000 upon their own 
field. 

3. Wabash College, 

The annual application for aid from this Institution con- 
tains no very specific information in respect to its internal con- 
dition. The catalogue of the College, however, shows that 



it is steadily advancing in its career of prosperity. The 
number of students in the College Proper is 48, Normal De- 
partment, 49, Preparatory Department, 63. Total 160. 

The whole number of graduates previous to 1856 was 104, 
of whom 89 had either entered the ministry or were engaged 
in the study of theology. The precious revival of religion with 
which the College was favored during the last year, has already 
been described. Everything indicates that the Institution is 
destined to do for Indiana and the West all that its founders 
anticipated when they kneeled upon the snow, and by prayer 
dedicated its site to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. 

A citizen of Indiana has recently pledged §10,000 to the 
Institution, for the founding of a Professorship. At a meeting 
of the trustees, held in Dec. 1855, they resolved to " ask the 
sum of $50,000, it being understood that this sum having been 
received, the College is to withdraw from the patronage of the 
Society." 

4. Beloit College. 
The President, in renewing their application for aid, says : — 

We have many pleasing indications that our Institution is becoming 
better appreciated in the region around. The standard of scholarship 
maintained keeps down the number of students somewhat, but the faculty 
are confident in the opinion that the advancement of Christian education 
will be best promoted by maintaining a high standard. With the blessing 
of God on patient, persevering efforts, the ultimate result will fulfil the de- 
sign contemplated in the founding of the College. 

During the past year the Institution has made real progress towards the 
accomplishment of its ends, and never were its prospects of wide and last- 
ing usefulness more flattering than now. The number of students in attend- 
ance during the past year was greater than that of previous years. There 
were in the College Classes, 42 ; Scientific Course, 3 ; Preparatory Depart- 
ment, 115. Total, 160. 

Pres. Chapin employed a portion of the year in raisig 
funds in Wisconsin, and realized in subscriptions a little mor e 
than SI 5, 000 ; the greater part of which will probably be ab- 
sorbed in paying debts, meeting current expenses, and providing 
for occasional necessities. A bequest of $5,000 from Mrs. Love 
Colton, of Beloit, will probably be realized for permanent 
investment, in about a year from this. No little embarrassment 
has been felt at the College during the past year, in consequence 
of the limited amount of aid furnished by the Society. 

The Board of Trustees " gratefully acknowledge the timely 
assistance of the Society in years past, and rejoice in the mutual 



confidence and esteem which has over characterized this rela- 
tion." They also, " in view of the deficiency of the College 
in respect of library and apparatus, the want of buildings, and 
the in completeness ofendowments," regard $20,000, in addition 
to $1,700 for deficiency in income for the last year, as the 
least sum that will enable the College to dispense with further 
aid from the Society. They accordingly ask for this amount. 



5. Wittenberg College, 

The Society had redeemed in full the pledges made to 
this College. It is nine years since aid was first granted. The 
advance which the Institution has made within this period is 
thus set forth by the President, Kev. Dr. Sprecher : — 

"When we began to receive aid from the College Society we had twenty- 
five acres of land, one wing of the College Edifice finished, a debt of $10,000, 
and no endowment. Now we have thirty-four acres of land, buildings worth 
$40,000, no debt, and $20,000 endowment secured. We have many sub- 
scriptions unpaid, which are not included in this estimate. 

If we had received no aid from the Society we would have been obliged 
to suspend our operations, for some time at least. By means of that aid 
we have been enabled to employ teachers, to sustain regular instruction for 
all the classes, to graduate 33 young men, and to supply our field with 
45 additional ministers. In the mean time we have sufficiently overcome 
our pecuniary difficulties to gratify the hope, that in about one year from 
this time we will have so far completed our endowment as to be able to 
sustain a respectable number of Teachers. 

They confidently anticipated that this endowment would have 
been completed previous to the present anniversary of the So- 
ciety, but the work was delayed in consequence of the frail health 
and final resignation of Professor Conrad, on whom was their 
main reliance in the work of raising funds. In view of this 
fact they raised the inquiry, whether it would not be possible 
for the Society to continue its usual appropriation for another 
year. Since that time, however, a bequest of $500 to that 
College has been received from the estate of the late Kev. J. 
M. Ellis, and the Board have therefore voted an additional 
appropriation of $500, believing that the Institution may then 
be safely left to its own efforts and the liberality of its friends 
on the Western field. 

6. ' Heidelberg College. 

The President of this Institution, in a communication to the 

Secretary, says : — 



The letter addressed by yourself to Professor Ruetenick on the 6th inst., 
was considered by the Board of Trustees, at a special meeting held a few days 
ago. The Board instructed me to say to you that in case the Society can give 
us $500 a year for four, or at the farthest, five years, that we will in that 
time be able to place our Institution on such a footing as to need no fur- 
ther assistance. 

"We have resolved to raise this year in our small churches $5000, to com- 
plete our College building, and to pay the debt resting upon it. Then as 
soon as our people shall have had time to breathe a little, we intend mak- 
ing a grand effort to complete the endowment. This work we cannot do 
in less than four or five years — if you can possibly extend the time so long, 
please do so, and in the mean time we will do our utmost to help 
ourselves. 



FINAL EFFORT IN BEHALF OF COLLEGES IN STATES 
EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 

In our last Annual Keport, it was suggested that some 
$75,000 would probably be sufficient to finish the whole work 
of the Society in States East of the Mississippi. There are 
now six colleges in those States upon its list, viz : — Illinois, 
Wabash, Marietta, Beloit, Heidelberg and Wittenberg. Du- 
ring the past year correspondence has been had with them all, 
and in view of it the Board have arranged the following scale 
of appropriations, including $18,000 voted to Marietta College 
in 1850 ; and $20,000 to Illinois College in 1852 ; and not reckon- 
ing some $5,000 received by Wabash College previous to 
1856. 

Marietta College, > $20,640 20 

less (already received), 16,140 20 $4,500 00 

Illinois College, 22,000 00 

less (already received), 5,530 78 16,469 22 

Wabash College, 25,000 00 

less (already received), 7,123 33 17,876 67 

Beloit College, 21,700 00 

Heidelberg College, 2,500 00 

Wittenberg (balance), 500 00 



To be provided for, $63,545 89 

There are in addition pledges, thought to be reliable, and 
legacies soon to be available, which will bring this amount 
within $50,000. After mature deliberation, therefore, the 
Board unanimously adopted the following preamble and reso- 
lutions, viz: — 



8 

Whereas the six colleges upon the list of the Society in 
States east of the Mississippi, are engaged in efforts to secure a 
permanent endowment that will render unnecessary any 
further assistance to them from the East, and thus enable the 
Society to give its whole strength to institutions between the 
Mississippi and the Pacific: And, whereas, additional aid 
from the Society will be essential to the successful completion 
of this work : Therefore, 

Resolved — That in the judgment of this Board, it is ex- 
pedient to enter at once upon a vigorous effort to raise within 
two years, for this purpose, §50,000 in addition to payments 
and pledges already made. 

Resolved — That the officers of the colleges interested in 
this movement may have the opportunity, in connection with 
the ordinary agencies of the Society, and under the direction 
of the Consulting Committee, to exert themselves efficiently 
for the accomplishment of this object, so far as may be prac- 
ticable, without interfering with the regular objects of the 
Society. 

REASONS FOR SPECIAL ACTION. 

1. All the enterprises now in question have passed the period 
of their infancy, and its attendant struggles and uncertainties, 
and acquired such a degree of stability that we may rely with 
confidence upon their perpetuated life, provided they receive 
the specified amount of additional aid. The oldest Institutions 
now upon the list of the Society are Illinois, Wabash, and 
Marietta Colleges, all of which first received assistance from the 
East more than twenty years since. Although this is a very 
limited period in the life of a College, it is not strange that the 
feeling should be extensive and strong, that it is long enough 
to terminate all dependence upon foreign aid, and especially 
in view of the population and wealth of the States in which 
they are located. 

This Society has no interest in protracting the period of 
dependence, but desires to bring it to as speedy a termination 
as would at all consist with safety to the interests involved. 
But, on the other hand, equal care should be taken to prevent 
the disasters that would be consequent upon the premature 
abandonment of enterprises once successfully commenced. 
The real value of the Society's agency has been nowhere more 
apparent than in guarding against this, in cases where all that 
had been accomplished, through long years of toil and sacri- 
fice, would have been put in jeopardy. It came in just at the 



right time, as a regulating power, to adjust rival claims at the 
West, so that, instead of being mutually prejudicial or entire- 
ly destructive, they should conspire to promote the great com- 
mon cause. 

COLLEGES STRUGGLING WITH EMBARRASSMENTS. 

In respect to the three Institutions above named, the fol- 
lowing things should be remembered : 

(1.) Their existence commenced not very long previous to 
the pecuniary revulsion which swept with such desolating 
power over the West ; and to this day they have been strug 
gling with embarrassments, created during that inflated pe- 
riod. Although neither of them was identified with the dis- 
astrous speculations of that period, yet they necessarily par- 
took, more or less, of the spirit of the times ; and, moreover, 
felt authorized to make expenditures based upon promises of 
aid, made in the most perfect good faith, but which, in the end, 
proved entirely fallacious. One or more of them received 
considerable quantities of Western lands as donations, but in 
times of darkness and embarrassment these lands were disposed 
of, and that by the advice of the shrewdest business men at 
the East ; and the day has gone by in which either of them, 
to any great extent, can look to this source for endowment. 
It should*be remembered that these were pioneer enterprises 
— that many things connected with them were matters of ex- 
periment, and that much experience has been gained, at no lit- 
tle cost, that will be of great value in all future time. Their 
conductors, from the first, have given themselves, with single- 
ness of heart, to the work of education, and have relied upon 
the friends of Christian learning to give them the needed fa- 
cilities. 

THEIR SLOWNESS OF GROWTH ACCOUNTED FOR. 

(2.) The population, in the midst of which they were plant- 
ed, was much more heterogeneous than that which flows along 
the higher parallels of latitude, and fills the northern portions 
of Ohio, Illinois, and Iowa, and all parts of Wisconsin. Con- 
sequently, the proportion of those who would appreciate the 
higher Institutions of learning, has always been vastly less 
than in the regions last named ; and here is a most important 
reason for a comparative slowness of growth. The following 
table will show the nativities of the population of the States 



10 

of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa, according to 
the census of 1850 : 



Ohio 

Indiana 

Illinois 

Wisconsin.. 
Iowa 


n.K. 

State*, 


Middle 
Free 
Statea. 


8I.T. 

BMk 


Vr'MUrn 
Free Statu 

and 
Territories. 


NatlTcs of 
the State. 


Foreign 
Born. 


Unknown. 


Total 


66,032 
10,646 
36,549 
27,029 

5,535 


308,145 

76,392 

112,207 

79,732 

24,077 


152,319 

176,575 

144,809 

6,298 

31,392 


11,628 

126,700 
99,955 
21,838 
59,236 


1,219,432 

541,079 

343,618 

63,015 

50,380 


218,512 
54,426 
111,593 
106,695 
21,232 


4,359 

2,598 

3,946 

784 

362 


1,980,427 
988,416 
851,470 
305,391 
192,214 


145,784 


600,352 


511,393 | 319,357 


2,217,524 


511,458 


12,049 


4,317,918 



From the above table, it appears that of the inhabitants liv- 
ing in 1850, in Ohio, Indiana, and Elinois, 473,703 were born 
in the different Slave States, and 384,531 were of foreign ori- 
gin. The great mass of the former are to be found in the mid- 
dle and southern sections of those three States. In the whole 
of Indiana there were but 10,646 individuals of New Eng- 
land origin. 

It is a fact, however, of great interest, that before Northern 
routes were open, the tide of emigration, in the providence of 
God, flowed down the Ohio, and diffused itself sufficiently 
over portions of those three States to establish Colleges where 
otherwise institutions of learning might not have been plant- 
ed for generations. The good accomplished by these enter- 
prises may be less obvious at first, and yet, perhaps, in the long 
run, it may not be surpassed by that achieved in the most fa- 
vored localities. 



EXPENDITURE SMALL COMPARED WITH RESULTS. 

(3.) The amount required to complete the work at these 
three institutions, is as nothing compared with the good that 
will be accomplished. Let it be furnished, and all that the So- 
ciety originally undertook will have been achieved. A few 
facts will suffice to show the importance of this work. The 
five institutions first received upon its list had, at the time, re- 
sources for educational purposes, which, at the most liberal es- 
timate, amounted to some $400,000, but they were embar- 
rassed by an indebtedness which together exceeded $100,000. 
The compulsory liquidation of this indebtedness would, in a 
majority of cases, have resulted in certain ruin ; and yet to 
some of these institutions it seemed inevitable. There was 
prostration and darkness at the West, and coldness and distrust 
at the East. Moreover, these institutions founded for common 



II 

and noble ends, and suffering under a common distress, were 
competitors among the Eastern churches for the comparative 
pittance which could yet be gathered here to save them from 
utter ruin. 

They have now been sustained for a period of thirteen 
years — two have been stricken from the list of the Society as 
no longer needing aid — while the other three, according to the 
explicit testimony of their conductors, have been saved from 
ruin. Prosperity has again returned to the West, and were 
they to be abandoned at once by the society, and left to rely 
entirely upon Western resources, none of them would proba- 
bly fail, or be thrown back into the condition of weakness and 
peril from which they have been delivered — nevertheless their 
progress would be seriously checked, and their power crippled 
just at the time when the communities upon which they were 
designed to act, are in a condition to be most effectually reach- 
ed. The abandonment of them at the present stage would 
therefore be at a risk and loss, for which there could be no 
compensation by any increased interest or sense of responsi- 
bility which might possibly be created at the West. 

Some of the men connected with these enterprises have 
grown gray in the service — Sisyphus-like, they have rolled the 
stone upward, but time and again, as it apparently neared the 
summit, it has been thrown backward. Yet they have as 
often renewed their toil, and now, strong in faith, plead earnest- 
ly for a generous response to this their last appeal for aid. 
Let this appeal be fully met, and the combined resources of 
these five institutions alone, by contributions at the East and 
the West, and by changes in the value of property, will have 
been increased by some three hundred and fifty thousand dol- 
lars. 

IMPLIED PLEDGES. 

(4.) The Society has not yet done all which its past action 
has led them to expect, and in view of which they have been 
stimulated to special efforts on their own fields. This is par- 
ticularly true of Illinois and Marietta colleges. To abandon 
them now could hardly be consistent with good faith, even if 
the best interests of education did not still seem to demand the 
fulfilment of every pledge, either expressed or implied. 

COMPAEISON WITH KINDRED ORGANIZATIONS. 

2. If there were valid reasons for the instant and entire 
abandonment of these older States, on the part of this Society, 



12 

the same would apply with equal or greater force to kindred 
organizations. The number of missionaries sustained by the 
American J Ionic Missionary Society in the three States of 
Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, gradually increased, till it reached 
a maximum of two hundred and fifty -eight, from which it has 
declined to two hundred and nine. This decline, however, 
has been in part owing to the impossibility of finding suitable 
men. While every thing demands that the churches in those 
States should be brought to a self-supporting point at the ear- 
liest practicable moment, it can hardly admit of a doubt, that an 
entire abandonment at the present time would be disastrous 
to the missionary cause in those States. So in respect to colleges. 
This Society, however, is drawing near the end of its work 
there. As it was the last among benevolent organizations 
to enter those States, so it will be the first to complete its 
work, and leave them with the understanding, that the institu- 
tions which it has aided will thereafter cease their solicitations 
at the East. This Board has neither the pow r er nor the dispo- 
sition to lay down any law for the future. New enterprises 
may hereafter spring up on those old fields, and call for aid 
from the East, and individuals or churches, if so disposed, will 
respond to their appeals. Still it is believed, that if the Soci- 
ety is enabled to complete its proposed work, those States will 
be furnished with institutions sufficient to meet the necessary 
demands of Christian education, and that if any addition is 
made to their number, it should be on the responsibility, and 
at the expense of those who inhabit the West. 

BELOIT COLLEGE. 

3. But the whole work now under consideration, em- 
braces also Beloit College, in Wisconsin. This institution, like 
the State, is young and vigorous; and so rapid has been its pro- 
gress, that the proposed amount will enable it to dispense with 
further aid from the East, and its period of dependence will then 
have been less than half that of either of the three institutions 
above named. For this amount its conductors earnestly plead. 
They base their argument upon the rapid development of 
the surrounding region and the increase of its population, 
which already amounts to a million of souls — and the charac- 
ter of that population for intelligence and activity — all going 
to show, that if Beloit College would fulfil its mission, it must 
" very shortly stand forth full grown and full armed for the 
conflict." The founders apprehended this necessity, and from 
the beginning have shaped their policy accordingly, and now, 



13 

within the brief intervening period, to use their own language, 
" a college has been set up, which, in the completeness of its or- 
ganization, its standard of scholarship, and the thoroughness 
of instruction and discipline, it is believed is taking the lead in 
the work of collegiate education in that region.' ' " This has 
been accomplished without the embarrassment of an accumu- 
lating debt ; but the income of the college is not yet sufficient 
to sustain the present scale of expenses, without aid from the 
Eastern Society, and the broad outline is yet to be filled up." 
When that is done, " Beloit College will stand, according to 
the design of its founders, the central fortress to represent and 
maintain for that wide region the principles of Puritan Calvi- 
nistic Protestantism." 

The conductors say, moreover, that "large and liberal sub- 
scriptions are taken at the West, but they must run through a 
series of years for their fulfilment. Many, whose hearts are 
already interested, are shaping their plans of business to give 
the college a share in their future profits, and in the adjust- 
ment of wills for the final disposition of estates, it is remem- 
bered and named. There is good reason to believe, that in 
these various ways the West will rally to the support and en- 
largement of this institution, and in time make good its hun- 
dred thousand dollars for every ten thousand drawn from the 
East, to give it foundation." Should one half of this be real- 
ized, it would be difficult to show a nobler investment. 

And this, with the exception of a limited amount to Hei- 
delberg and Wittenberg Colleges in Ohio, would complete the 
whole work of the Society in States east of the Mississippi. 
There will then have been planted in the four States of Ohio, 
Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin, no less than nine institutions, 
Collegiate and Theological, under Christian influence, with, 
an educational capital of more than a million of dollars, and 
in the midst of a population already nearly twice that of the 
entire nation at the time of the Declaration of Independence. 
At no distant day this will be doubled, and ere long doubled 
again, and at each successive period the accumulations of mind 
within the range of these institutions will open to them a con- 
tinually expanding field of usefulness. But the amount now 
required by the Society for the completion of this great work, 
is no more than would be expended in the construction of less 
than two miles of railroad ! 



14 



GENERAL RESULTS ACIIIEVED AND TO BE EXPECTED. 

4 The general results of Christian effort, at the West, 
furnish strong encouragement for the completion of the work 
now under consideration, inasmuch as they show conclusively, 
that in the entire history of colonization and missionary enterprise, 
no expenditure of resources and effort has brought so rich a return. 
It is all important that this view of the co,se be held up before 
those, who have so long and so nobly sustained the various 
instrumentalities employed for the evangelization of the West. 
There is such a thing as looking on the expenditure and the 
drain till we lose sight of the returns; and such a thing as 
keeping the eye so exclusively upon the increasing wealth of the 
West, as to forget that the highest motives exist to continue 
the expenditure, at each and every point, whatever may be 
the pecuniary ability of the country, so long as results like 
those above indicated can be secured. To some minds an ex- 
hibition of the extent of that land, its immense natural re- 
sources, rapidity of settlement, and strides to wealth and 
power, furnishes only a demonstration that no possible reason 
can exist for extending further Eastern aid. It is forgotten, 
that in a most important sense the motives to such benevolence 
are strengthened in proportion to the force of this very exhi- 
bition. Those features of the country which render pecuniary 
investments so profitable, promise a like rich return for moral 
investments. The establishment of a school, the planting of 
a church, or the conversion of a given number of souls in the 
new States of the West, in themselves considered, might be 
no more important than the same on some lonely island in the 
Pacific, and. yet their relations to other schools, and churches, 
and conversions, and the progress of Christian civilization 
in the world, be such as to render their importance immea- 
surably superior. The question, therefore, is not simply, 
whether given sections of the West have the pecuniary ability 
to sustain their own institutions, but, also, whether additional 
moral investments, all things considered, will yield equally 
rich returns. So long as they will, the pressure of motive to 
continue them remains undiminished. 

It is interesting to notice how, in the history of the West, 
the age of steam synchronizes with that of missions; and the 
thunder of its progress Westward is no louder than the call 
upon all who love the kingdom of Christ, or their country, to 
send into the wide fields, which this great agency of civiliza- 
tion opens, all the creative and moulding forces of Christian 
society. The year 1826 was signalized by a somewhat remark- 



15 

able coincidence, viz., the charter of the first American rail- 
road, the organization of the American Home Missionary 
Society, and the founding of Western Eeserve College. The 
first, inaugurating a system whose grandest developments are 
to be witnessed on our vast "Western domain ; the second open- 
ing a channel of benevolence, whose influence upon the evan- 
gelization of that land has thus far surpassed, in scope and 
power, that of any other single instrumentality ; and the third, 
constituting the first, in a series of institutions, destined to 
carry the light of Christian learning from the Alleghanies to 
the Pacific. The marvellous physical developments of the 
West are so well known, that tbey hardly need a description 
here ; as connected with the agency of steam, first on the rivers 
and lakes and then on the land — it would be difficult to assign 
them any limit. 

Railroads not only penetrate the unbroken forest, but 
strike boldly out over ocean-like prairies, and trains "put to 
sea " like Atlantic steamships, not only bearing to the opposite 
shore the emigrant, and all needed facilities for turning the 
wilderness into fruitful fields ; but along the iron track itself, 
and over the broad expanse — before scarcely more capable of 
settlement than the bosom of the ocean — villages and cities 
spring up in rapid succession, and golden harvests wave. 
These physical and moral developments are not only con- 
temporaneous, but reciprocal in their influence ; and every- 
where stand related to each other, more or less, as cause and 
effect. 

If, then, we turn to the moral and intellectual progress of 
the West, during the thirty years now under consideration, it 
may not be found to have kept pace with the physical devel- 
opment ; yet we shall every where meet with changes of the 
deepest interest. The statistics could not be gathered and 
combined without t great labor, and were they in our possession, 
would fail to make an adequate impression upon the mind. 
No one can fully comprehend or appreciate them who has not 
been an eye-witness, and toiled through all their stages — shared 
in the sacrifice, and self-denial, and peril — felt the crushing 
weight of their anxieties and fears, as well as the exhilaration 
of success, and, moreover, carefully watched their progress, 
from the first feeble beginnings to their present state of ad- 
vancement. We may, however, easily lay hold of facts, and 
make allusions, that will give some idea of the progress in 
question. 

In the last Report of the American Home Missionary So- 
ciety, we have embodied the results of its operations for these 



16 

thirl v years. The annual income lias increased from $18,000 
to $193,000 ; the number of laborers from 196 to 986. More 
than $3,000,000 have been expended; more than seventeen 
thousand years of labor performed, at 4,300 stations, in thirty- 
six States and Territories ; 1,000 churches, reared through its 
instrumentality, brought to the point of self-support, and are 
now its patrons instead of beneficiaries, and some of them 
among the " most prominent and successful in the land ; " and 
into churches receiving its aid 137,000 souls have been gath- 
ered. The Committee well say: " We gain but a very partial 
view of the results of this Society's labors, unless we pursue 
them into every department, and over every field of social, 
intellectual, and moral, as well as religious, enterprise. Nay, 
we must follow these streams just now bursting from their 
fountain-head, and in ever increasing volume, through all 
future time." 

But, as another indication of the moral progress of the 
West during the period now under consideration, we may men- 
tion, that it has been distinguished above all others, in our his- 
tory as a nation, for the founding of Christian colleges ; the 
most of which have been established at the West. Of the 
one hundred and thirty-five colleges named in a previous 
part of this Report, ninety have been started during the last 
thirty years, while forty -five only were founded during the 
previous two hundred and six years of our national history. 
Allowing for all drawbacks arising from their infancy, and 
limitations of influence consequent upon an unnecessary mul- 
tiplication of numbers, it must be conceded, that an intellec- 
tual and moral force has here been created of prodigious scope 
and efficiency. 

The creative and moulding power of colleges is operative at 
the West, on a scale never before witnessed, and under advan- 
tages in many respects without a parallel. As the railroad im- 
parts vigor to industrjr, developes the hidden stores of wealth, 
and gives to an awakened and renovated people the means of 
filling their lands with a thousand minor improvements ; so 
colleges, as generators of educational power, " send a life- 
giving influence downward through all the grades of educa- 
tional systems." So far as the mere work of construction is 
concerned, the services rendered to popular education at the 
West by these institutions could hardly be estimated. Many 
of them were started before any system of Common Schools 
existed in the States where they were founded, and their in- 
structors and special friends have been leaders in all move- 



17 

ments for the promotion of popular education. Some com- 
menced their existence when ignorance, in respect to all higher 
education, was such that the representatives of the people 
for years rejected an application for a college charter, through 
their extreme jealousy of corporations. And some legislators 
gravely urged, that, if a charter were granted, the corporation 
should be allowed to hold only a single quarter section of land, 
lest the few thousand dollars contributed by Christian men at 
the East, to aid the college in its infancy, should be employed 
in the purchase of new land, upon which tenants at will would 
be placed, and the institution thus be enabled to sway the po- 
litical destiny of the State. The opposition, however, finally 
yielded to light thrown in through a Report prepared by one of 
the Trustees of the college, and adopted as their own, by the 
Committee on Education in the Senate. College officers, too, 
might be named in some of these States, who performed 
signal services when their Common School systems were 
framed. 

These institutions are not mere passive existences, as mul- 
titudes seem to imagine, but centres of living power, which 
goes out upon society through the pulpit, the press, the bar, the 
bench, the school room, the Academic and Legislative Hall, 
and all the walks of literature and science. They produce a 
literary atmosphere, awaken an educational spirit, elevate all 
the learned professions, and like stationary engines at the head 
of inclined planes, lift society to their own level. It is worthy 
of mention here, that on the very territory which the above- 
named legislators feared would come under the power of a 
literary corporation, to the ruin of the State, a city of one 
hundred thousand inhabitants has since sprung up, which 
numbers among its booksellers a single house, who have the 
present year ordered from Eastern publishers 425,000 volumes 
to meet the demands of the fall trade ; and during the last 
twelve months, more than half a million copies of the list of 
school books known as the "American Educational Series," 
have been sold by this same house. In view of these facts the 
Chicago Press says: "What a comment is this upon the social 
and moral condition of the great Northwest ! Does it not 
show that the intellectual progress of our people fully equals 
the advancement of the West in material wealth and political 
power ? " 

At thirteen points, in eight States and Territories, this 

Society has already helped to plant this living, creative power, 

and in the changes already wrought in all the particulars above 

named, in the blessing of God vouchsafed to these enterprises, 

2 



18 

and especially in the effusions of Ilis Spirit, resulting in the 
consecration of so many young men to the service of Christ, 
we have an earnest and a guarantee of a noble futuiv. 

In a similar way we might bring under review the progress 
o( Sabbath school and Bible class instruction, especially as 
connected with the American Sunday School Union, whose 
great missionary field has been the West; also the varied 
operations of the American Bible and Tract Societies, together 
with the efforts of all missionary and philanthropic associa- 
tions, whether denominational or otherwise. Such a review 
would bring out results, calculated in the highest degree to en- 
courage those who have been engaged in the prosecution of 
these various enterprises, and could not fail to inspire devout 
gratitude to God for the privilege of doing such a work. A 
good illustration of this has just been given to the public in 
the results of the Congregational Fund for building churches 
at the West, which, so far as mere figures are concerned, show 
five or six dollars developed there for every one contributed by 
the Eastern churches. A Western missionary testifies, that 
" the good done by this timely aid can hardly be estimated 
here on earth," and the committee for disbursing the fund 
express the belief, that " never since the great Apostle said to 
the Gralatians, ' Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the 
law of Christ,' has there been accomplished, to this end, a 
work, for the means employed, of more eminent usefulness." 

The same thing will appear if we look at the drain upon 
the older States, caused by emigration, and which has been 
so seriously felt in some portions of New England. Accord- 
ing to the census of 1850, there were 925,838 people residing 
in the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, 
and Iowa, who were born in Pennsjdvania, New Jersey, New 
York, and the New England States. To a very large extent 
this has been a Christian exodus. Multitudes of churches 
have lost devoted members, and in numerous instances their 
very pillars have been taken away, entailing feebleness, and 
in some instances, perhaps, bringing absolute ruin. A single 
Western church could be named, composed of only thirty -five 
members, of whom nine are now, or have elsewhere been dea- 
cons. Old homesteads, without number, have been deserted 
by the young, the vigorous, and the enterprising, for the grow- 
ing West. But notwithstanding this drain, the East, as a vshole, 
is stronger and richer than ever, and more able to push on all 
the grand enterprises wdiich aim at the world's conversion. 

And there has also been immense gain at the West. 
While the older States have given out in large measures their 



19 

very life-blood, every drop of it has been infused into young 
empires — imparting vitality, promoting a vigorous and healthy 
growth, and multiplying on every hand the precursors of a 
noble manhood. Enfeebled churches have their compen- 
sation, some thirty, some sixty, and some an hundred-fold, in 
their off-shoots, planted in the wilderness, where they are 
taking deep root, and already from thousands of centres, be- 
ginning to send out their "boughs unto the sea, and their 
branches unto the river." It would be difficult indeed to 
name an enterprise of benevolence or philanthropy, on all 
that wide field of effort, during the last thirty years, which 
was not, under Grod, mainly indebted for its existence and 
efficiency, to this Christian exodus from the older States. So 
also in respect to national interests, we can see that vast capital 
for good has been accumulated in the living hosts that are 
ready to do battle for the right, whenever any of the great 
principles which underlie the Kepublic are at stake. 

But abundant fruits not only appear on the distant fields 
themselves — the return currents of benevolence are also begin- 
ning to swell the parent streams. For example, the receipts 
of the Illinois State Auxiliary of the American Bible Society, 
during the last year, were $40,000 ; of which nearly $30,000 
were in donations. Not far from one-twelfth of the receipts of 
the American Home Missionary Society, during the same 
period, were from the four States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, 
aud Wisconsin, and from that field the A. B. C. F. M. received 
about the same amount. 

At the present time no such return currents flow from the 
distant West into the treasury of this Society, for the simple 
reason, that all funds raised by any Institution on that field go 
directly into its own treasury ; and such is the stimulus to 
Western effort afforded by the Society, that in ordinary cases 
these funds are double or treble the amount furnished from the 
East. But let the work now under consideration be completed, 
andth e friends of Christian learning in those States, instead 
of c ming on this side of the Alleghanies for help, will furnish 
efficient aid to the Society, as it moves onward beyond the 
Mississippi. 

A WISE ECONOMY. 

5. It hardly need be said that a wise economy dictates this 
method of accomplishing this particular work. It has a de- 
finiteness and a scope which commends it very strongly to 
practical minds. The different Institutions to which it has 
reference have reached such a stage of advancement, and 



20 

their conductors so well understand the measure of reliance 
which can now be placed upon the West, that the above 
estimates arc not likely to prove delusive. We thus count 
the cost o( these six towers, and trust that the friends of 
Christian learning, when they see how small that is, compared 
with the good to be achieved, will never allow us to be 
taunted with the declaration, " These men began to build and 
were not able to finish." Individual men and individual 
churches, in great numbers, have the ability to carry any one 
of them to completion, and our hope and prayer is, that the 
Lord may so stir up the hearts of the lovers of learning, that 
the Society may be speedily enabled to lay the last topstone. 

EDUCATION A DEBT TO FUTURE GENERATIONS. 

6. It is all -important that the work now under consider- 
ation be finished at an early day, in order that the Society 
may throw its entire strength upon institutions between the 
Mississippi and the Pacific. We might consider this both in 
the light of an obligation and a privilege. Mr. George Pea- 
body, of London, sent to the centennial celebration in his 
native town of Danvers, Mass., the following noble senti- 
ment: "Education, a debt due from the present to future 
generations;" and by way of discharging that debt, he ac- 
companied the sentiment with a donation of twenty thousand 
dollars, and at a subsequent period nearly doubled the amount. 
Paul was evidently a "debtor to the Greeks and to the bar- 
barians, to the wise and to the unwise," not on the ground of 
any benefits received from them, but because he had the power 
to make known unto them the Gospel of Christ. The princi- 
ple seems to be, that the possession of blessings, and ability to 
bestow them upon others, creates obligation, and especially so 
if existing relations are such as make us the natural channels 
of good. 

The relations of the parent to the child impose obligations 
which can rest upon no other human being. Yery similar are 
those which the older States in this confederacy sustain to the 
new States and Territories at the West. They are settled at 
first principally by emigrants from the former. It is said that 
there is scarcely a Christian family in New England or New 
York, which is not represented by some near relative, resident 
within the circle of which Beloit College is the centre. And 
at a public meeting in behalf of this Society, held in the city 
of Boston, one of the speakers remarked, that if all in that 
crowded assembly who had relations, or particular friends in 



20 



the West, were called upon to rise, very few probably would 
remain seated. Reciprocal ties, therefore, like a precious net- 
work, unite the old States and the new, in bonds at once sa- 
cred and indissoluble. 

But when children start in life, parents differ very much, 
not only in respect to their ability to aid them, but also in 
their views as to what constitutes the most valuable outfit. 
On a similar principle we can see very clearly the direction in 
which emigrants must mainly look for aid in establishing in- 
stitutions of learning in the new States of the West. The 
character of their parentage may be inferred from a glance at 
the following table, constructed from the returns of the last 
census : 











Total Whites 


Foreign 


Native 


Proportion 


Total Whites over 20. 


Foreign 
bom. 


Native 
Whites. 


over 20 un- 
able to read 


Whites over 
20 unable 


Whites over 
20 unable 


unable to 
read or 










or write. 


to read or 
write. 


to read or 
■write. 


write. 


Virginia 


413,428 


10,607 


402,821 


77,005 


1,137 


75,868 


lin 5 


New York 


1,612.212 


308,747 


1.303,465 


91,293 


68,052 


23,241 


lin 56 


South Carolina 


125.241 


4,103 


121,138 


15,684 


104 


15.5S0 


lin 8 


Massachusetts.. 


568,533 


76,220 


492.313 


27,539 


26,4S4 


1,155 


1 in 403 


Georgia 


217,744 


2,798 


214,946 


41,200 


406 


40,794 


lin 5 


Pennsylvania.. 


1,095,2S6 


118,599 


976,6S7 


66,928 


24,989 


41,939 


lin 21 


Kentucky 


332,370 


13,826 


31S,544 


66,687 


2,347 


64,340 


lin 5 


Ohio 


890,833 


103,505 


787,323 


61,030 


9,062 


51,968 


lin 15 


Tennessee 


316,209 


2,719 


313,490 


77,522 


505 


77,017 


lin 4 


Vermont 


167,413 


15,551 


151.S62 


6,189 


5,624 


565 


1 in 263 



The abstraction of the foreign element makes the contrast 
between different States mucli more striking. Now how much 
encouragement in the work of establishing schools, and plant- 
ing colleges in the new States, will emigrants find, if they re- 
turn to ancestral homes where one-fourth, one-fifth, or one- 
eighth of the population over 20 years of age, are unable to 
read or write ! ISTo doubt there would be honorable excep- 
tions. The experiment was once tried by the friends of one 
of our Western colleges, and, though to some extent success- 
ful, it was never repeated. 

What if every fifth or eighth person on board the May- 
flower, and in the early colonies of New England, had been 
unable to read or write ! Then such zeal in the founding of 
a college as is described in the following language, uttered in 
Boston by a distinguished advocate of this Society, would 
have been unknown: "Two centuries ago, the University 
which has done more for the city, under her wing, and for 
this whole shore, than all the commerce of the sea, was 
anxiously soliciting the ' deep poverty ' of the sisterhood of 



22 

feeble colonies for bread, and sensibly grateful for the private 
gift of a 'pewter flagon,' or a few pecks of corn. The appeal 
was every where responded to; the colonics gave according to 
their means and beyond their means; heroic sacrifices were 
every where made; the prosperity of the new settlements was 
identified with that of the college; the feeling was general, it 
was strong, it amounted often to enthusiasm, that the great 
objects of the emigrants, the establishment of a free State and 
the enjoyment of a free Gospel, were utterly impracticable 
without an institution for the cultivation of true learning, of 
profound, severe Christian science." Then, too, action like 
this would never have flamed out in living light on the dry 
pages of the colonial records at New Haven, viz. : " The pro- 
position for the relief of poor scholars at Cambridge was fully 
approved of, and thereupon it was ordained, that Joshua At- 
water and William Davis, shall receive of every one in this 
plantation, whose heart is willing to contribute, a peck of 
wheat or the value of it." 

Such views and feelings made New England the early 
home of colleges and college-bred men — the home of schools 
and churches and an educated ministry — and we cannot 
wonder, that in the track of its emigration through the Middle 
States, and onward in the West, churches, and schools, and 
colleges should rise. Nor can we wonder that the sons of 
such a parentage should return to the noble old homestead for 
sympathy and aid in a work whose importance was among the 
first lessons which they learned. What would not Kome, as 
an educator, give to sustain such relations ? 

The very large proportion of liberally educated men who 
have gone out, especially from New England, as ministers, 
professors, and teachers, to fill the pulpits and found and man 
the colleges of the West, and occupy the foremost ranks in the 
great army of educators, creates bonds of a peculiar character. 
Channels of influence are thus opened, through which the very 
highest power can be brought to bear upon that forming 
Society. To create and apply such power is the work of this 
organization, whose existence is a living illustration of the 
truth referred to in the beginning of this Eeport, that " God, 
in advancing his kingdom on earth, has " ever " originated fit 
owers and made them subordinate to his design ; and that 
is people have been careful to erect, to confirm, and maintain 
these appropriate instruments ; to rebuild them when decayed, 
to keep them strong and equipped with resources, and to use 
them, whenever occasion has demanded, to advance his do- 
By the blessing of God, his people, through the in- 



23 

strumentality of this Society, did rebuild them when decayed 
at the West; and if they can now be fully "equipped with 
resources," they will accomplish a work that will be felt to the 
remotest periods of our history as a nation. 

But this equipment must be hastened, or opportunities will 
be lost such as never before were offered, and which no revo 
lution of ages can bring back. This growing power which 
has been described, great as it is, has not yet spread over more 
than half of our national domain. But the coming twenty -five 
years will probably see the whole, carved into States, demand- 
ing all the organizations and appliances of Christian society. 
The work of centuries will be compressed into a single age. 
The Society, therefore, should not linger on this side of the 
Father of Waters, but by one bold stroke complete its work, 
and, in conjunction with kindred organizations, pass over in 
full strength, as the Tribes crossed Jordan, and move onward 
toward the " Great Sea," Westward, till it shall have fulfilled 
its sublime mission. 



24 

PERM ANKNT SCHOLARSHIPS. 

The founding of permanent scholarships is one very interest- 
ing method oi' aiding Western Colleges. They are willing and 
even desirous that a portion of what they are to reeeivc through 
the Society should take this form. The trustees of Illinois 
College have adopted tho following conditions, to be attached 
to scholarships in that institution. After fixing the amount 
for each at 8500, they say : " the annual income of which shall 
be devoted in perpetuity by the Trustees of the Institution to 
the payment of tuition and other College dues of students 
who may need material aid, and, unless otherwise specified by 
the donors, upon the following conditions, to wit : " 

1. No student shall enjoy the benefit of any such scholarship whose 
moral character shall not be without reproach ; whose standing as a 
scholar shall not be above mediocrity ; and whose general character and 
qualifications shall not give unquestionable promise of usefulness. 

2. Should there be at any time more qualified candidates for scholar- 
ships than can be provided for by the income, they shall be subject to an 
examination by a committee, appointed by the Trustees, as to their profi- 
ciency in the requisite studies, and the preference shall be given to those 
who best sustain the examination. 

3. If at any time, the number of candidates shall be less than the in- 
come of the scholarships, the excess may, for the time being, be applied to 
the still further aid of actual incumbents, or to the general purposes of 
the Institution, as its necessities may require, and at the discretion of the 
Trustees. 

4. In the selection of candidates for scholarships, other things being 
equal, preference shall always be given to those of a decidedly religious 
character, and none can be admitted to any of these foundations except 
by signing the following pledge: 

I, , solemnly promise that I will neither use tobacco in 

any of its forms, nor spirituous liquors, either habitually or occasionally, 
as a beverage ; and that I will punctually attend religious worship on the 
Sabbath, and the prescribed exercises of the College on other days, so 
long as I shall continue to receive the avails of any of these scholarships. 



PROFESSORSHIPS. 

The founding of professorships is another method of aid- 
ing these Colleges. Four professorships, of $10,000 each, 
have been founded by so many individuals in certain of the 
institutions now in question. One church has also established 
a similar professorship in one of these Colleges, and has now 
undertaken to found another in a different institution. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



019 623 521 8 



Communications relative to the general inter- 
ests of the Society may be addressed to the Corre- 
sponding Secretary, Rev. Tiierojst Baldwin, No. 80 
Wall street, Ne.v York. 

" Donations and subscriptions may be sent to 
the Treasurer, JB. C. Webster, Esq., No. 118 West 
street, New York. 

ADDRESS OF AGENTS. 

Rev. J. Q. A. Edgell, Andover, Mass. 
Rev. Dennis Platt, South Norwalk, Conn. 
Rev. Ephkaim Adams, New Ipswich, N. H. 

OFFICE IN BOSTON, MASS., No. 15 CORNHILL. 



FORM OF A BEQUEST. 

I bequeath to my executors the sum of dollars in trust 

to pay over the same in after my decease, to the person 

who, when the same is payable, shall act as Treasurer of the Society for 
the Promotion of Collegiate and Theological Education at the West, 
formed in the city of New York in the year eighteen hundred and forty- 
three, to be applied to the charitable uses and purposes of said Society, 
and under its direction. 



FORM OF A DEVISE OF REAL ESTATE. 
I authorize and direct my executors, as soon as practicable after 
my decease, to sell for the best price that can be had therefor — at pub- 
lic or private sale — for cash, or upon credit secured by mortgage upon 
the land sold — in one or more parcels as they may think best calculated 
to produce the largest amount — the following real estate, viz. : 

and upon such sale, and on receiving 
payment or security therefor, as aforesaid, to convey the same to the 
purchaser or purchasers ; and thereupon to pay over or assign the pro- 
ceeds of such sale, in whatsoever the same may consist, to the person 
who shall then act as Treasurer of an Association called "The Society 
for the Promotion of Collegiate and Theological Education at the West," 
formed in the city of New York in the year one thousand eight hundred 
and forty-three, to be applied to the charitable uses and purposes of the 
said Society, and under its direction. 



